In their November 24-dated open letter to the European Commission (EC), as many as 59 US senators have asked the EC antitrust regulators to conclude their excruciatingly prolonged investigation of Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems and simply give the deal the requisite go ahead.

Accusing the EC of an unwarranted delay in its approval process to cause a deliberate damage to the US business, the senators, led by John Kerry and Orrin Hatch, have questioned the EC about its holdup in approving the deal; more so as the delay prevents the Oracle-Sun merger from doing business in the European Union which comprises 27 countries.

While the EC formally objected to the Oracle-Sun deal on November 9, it postponed the Brussels hearing date from November 25 to December 10. Further, on November 20, the EC regulators extended their final decision date from January 19 to January 27, 2010.

In the letter, Kerry said with the US Department of Justice having made a compelling case that the Oracle-Sun merger does not thwart competition, "it is fair to ask the EC for the basis on which a delay on decision making is warranted and to make a decision one way or the other."

Expressing a more straightforward opinion, Hatch said that what is increasingly disquieting is "the growing body of evidence that foreign regulatory agencies are unfairly using their review processes to impede the business of American corporations."